


I’m Here

by AddyEZ



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Child Neglect, Crying, Gen, Hugs, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Intoxication, Oblivious Jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 11:45:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19228519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AddyEZ/pseuds/AddyEZ
Summary: Jack is ticked. He has enough responsibilities at the Lodging House, why would Racetrack chose now to run away for attention?





	I’m Here

**Author's Note:**

> I had a long car ride and my parents were yelling at my brother not to run his mouth. I thought, “Hey, Race runs his mouth a lot, why not write a fic about it?” So I did. And somehow this happened.

Jack was starting to get desperate. He’d only been in charge of the Manhattan newsies for three weeks and he already lost a kid. And it wasn’t one of the kids like Specs, or Crutchie, who grew up in Manhattan, who knew the streets like the back of their hand. No, Racetrack Higgins was missing.

The kid had only come to the Lodging House a week ago and claimed he was from Brooklyn. That was all. Any more about his past was a mystery to Jack. He didn’t have bruises that made it look like his folks hadn’t been good to him, didn’t cry at night for parents that had died of sickness or injury, didn’t even speak fondly of little siblings he’d left behind when he left to make money to feed them. There was just… nothing. Just a cocky swagger, an annoying cigar and a sassy retort for everyone. And Jack knew full well that his comebacks that earned him claps on the back from his fellow newsies could earn him a knife in the gut on the streets. 

Hence the reason Jack was running to every poker game in Lower Manhattan, trying to find the kid before he ran his mouth off to the wrong guy. It was Racetrack’s one true love (other than the actual racetracks of course) and he wouldn’t run anywhere else. He didn’t know why the kid had ran off, he just knew he didn’t have time for this. Romeo was sick back at the Lodging House and he needed Jack’s help. Not some headstrong kid who ought to have good enough sense not to run around an unfamiliar part of the city at night. 

“Give it back, ya bastard!” 

Jack’s head turned to an alley he had just jogged past without a second glance. Even though he hadn’t seen the man who yelled, he could tell he was drunk and probably threatening someone who cheated him out of some money. 

“I heard a new book was released titled, “A Sense of Humor”. Why don’t you let me go and go grab a copy for ya?” 

_ Crap… _

Jack whirled back to the alley and sure enough, Racetrack was held against the wall by his shirt collar. 

Race kept talking. “I admitted I took ya cash, and I gave it back! I’se don’t got no more, whatcha want me ta do?”

“I’se want ya to be sorry!” Jack saw Race try to his carefree attitude, but Jack saw how tense he was.  _ This kid is petrified…  _

Race scoffed. “You’se are like a plunger, sir, ya keep bringing up old crap!”

Before Jack could react, the man drew his fist back and slammed Race across the face. Jack launched forward and grabbed the thug and yanked him off his new brother. The man’s head slammed into the ground, and he was knocked unconscious.  _ Part of it was the alcohol, for sure, _ Jack thought. 

Without a word, Jack grabbed Race’s upper arm, handed him a rag to stop his nose bleed, and started dragging him back to Lodging House.

“That hurt,” Race grumbled. “Does it always hurt so much ta get soaked in the nose?” 

Jack refused to answer, still fuming at the audacity of this kid.

“I’se ain’t eva’ been punched ’fore… does it hurt this much every time, Jackie?” 

He was needed back at the Lodging House, not tracking down this cocky kid!

“Hey, uh, Jack, are you’s mad at me?” 

He could yell at Race back at the Lodging House, once he took care of Romeo… 

They walked for a good fifteen minutes, Race constantly talking, but his voice was getting weaker. More desperate. “Jack, please talk ta me? Please?” 

It took Race’s voice cracking for Jack to finally look at the fifteen year old. “What. Do. You. Need.” Jack growled. 

The boy looked to the ground ashamed. “I’se just need ya to say something.”

Jack turned the boy around and pushed him into the wall before digging his finger into the boy’s chest. “Is that all this is? Some ploy for attention? I hate ta break it to ya kid, but you ain’t my top priority right now. The kids I’m in charge of that are sick, they’re my priority right now. I don’t got time for you.” 

Jack turned away from Racetrack, but paused when he heard a sniffle from the boy. He turned back and saw the kid frantically trying to wipe away his tears. 

Jack felt his stomach drop.  _ Ah shit, congrats Jack. You made the new kid cry _ . “Kid,” Jack sighed, guilt with a slight edge of panic filling him. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re no different…” Race tried to bring some sort of an edge to his voice, but just sounded miserable. “You’re just like my folks.”

“What’d your folks do to you, Racer?”

The dam broke. “Nothing!” He cried. “And that’s the problem, they did nothin’! My older sista’, she raised me, my parents didn’t even look at me. But she got married two years ago and she left me! She left me alone with parents who’ve never cared about me! I was starvin’! I hadn’t talked to no one in weeks!” He paused to take a hiccuping breath as Jack stood in shock. “I make the smart remarks because that’s the only way I get noticed. It gets to the point that I don’t care if it’s good or bad attention. That’s why I left Brooklyn. I came here to ’Hatten because maybe someone would at least  _ look at me _ . Conlon knew I was a smart mouth, that I wouldn’t listen to him. But I listened to you, most of the time, but you still didn’t look at me! I needed someone to spot me money for rent tonight because my sales sucked today. But you waved me off, didn’t even look at-”

Jack hugged him. Wrapped his arms around him and let the boy cry in his chest. Murmured reassurances in his ear. “I’m here Racer, I’se got you. I’ll spot you anything you need. I’se ain’t going anywhere. I won’t ignore you no more, I won’t.”

They stood in silence until Race calmed down. Jack was about to let go, to walk him back to the Lodging House when Race squeezed him tighter. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for noticing me.”

After that, Jack and Racetrack’s dynamic changed. If Race was talking, Jack would comment on what he said. If there was nothing he could say, Jack would hug him or pat him on the back or hit his newsies cap.

And whenever Race was feeling that no one saw him anymore, Jack would hold him in his arms and whisper in his ear, “I’m here.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, that’s an unedited drabble. Leave kudos and review please!


End file.
